T-Bird and the Breaks can fully be described in the word ‘classic.’ Soul music with mastery of all the familiar and effective hooks and blues bass lines that defined early rock & roll. T-Bird & The Breaks seem to be ripped right from that era, back when parents were squares, music was the devil’s work, and kids couldn’t get enough of it — which is fitting enough, because T-Bird is just like that, makes you feel young, makes you want to get up and move around, and you just can’t get enough of it. The 10-piece band ranges everything from funk to soul to blues to funk to rockabilly; listening to T-Bird & the Breaks is like experiencing the history of Texas Music, like listening to the soul of the state.
Since November, T-Bird and the Breaks have been releasing a single the first Tuesday every month that will keep going on ’til April – that’s right, two new songs, every month. Following in their yesteryear style – though the new music attempts to stray away from this sensibility, making style their playground – the singles are available on 7" vinyl as well as digitial download. Giving them a chance to flex a more experimental muscle, the most recent single, “The Piano Joint” showcases two different songs toying with a more hand-churned, hip-hop-meets-big-band-meets-funk feel. Not to say that’s not what T-Bird & the Breaks had going on before, but this hits you in a different way.
Playing next Friday, Feb. 19 at Antones, end your President’s-Day-Week right with some jazzy-bluesy, bluesy-jazzy, sweet funky soul music that’ll warm you off from the cold and get you moving, dancing and sweating.
–Mitchell Mazurek